He's top Dawg / Henderson is still hitting, still waiting for one more chance

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, July 3, 2005

Photo: K.C. Alfred/For The Chronicle

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San Diego Surf Dawgs' Rickey Henderson gets ready to bat during a game against Chico on Wednesday, June 29, 2005. After 25 years in the major leagues, Henderson is playing in the Golden Baseball League. Photo by K.C. Alfred/For The Chronicle 619-733-9804
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San Diego Surf Dawgs' Rickey Henderson gets ready to bat during a game against Chico on Wednesday, June 29, 2005. After 25 years in the major leagues, Henderson is playing in the Golden Baseball League. Photo ... more

Photo: K.C. Alfred/For The Chronicle

He's top Dawg / Henderson is still hitting, still waiting for one more chance

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2005-07-03 04:00:00 PDT San Diego -- Say this for Rickey Henderson: He's no quitter. Come back next year, and you might read the same line. Or not.

Henderson is in his 27th year playing pro ball, and retirement remains a dirty word and dreaded thought.

He's 46 and determined to keep at it, suiting up daily for the independent San Diego Surf Dawgs and proving that nobody else plays for the love of the game as he does.

He's certainly not in it for the money.

At another point in his career, he'd probably stick a $3,000 check in his uncashed-check drawer, but now $3,000 is his monthly wage. In the fledgling Golden Baseball League, the golden rule is no one eclipses 3 grand a month.

"I can't hold out in this league," Henderson said with a laugh. "I already make the max."

Still convinced he could help a big-league team, still hoping for a fifth go-round with the A's and still putting up numbers -- .302 average in 28 games, .512 on-base percentage, 10 steals in 11 tries and so many walks that he's experimenting with a higher stance so he'd see more strikes -- Henderson sat in a dugout last week at Tony Gwynn Stadium, on the campus of San Diego State, and mulled over his future.

He said he enjoys this eight-team, three-month league because it's close to his family in Arizona and roots in Oakland and because it's another opportunity. He played the past two years for the independent Newark Bears and hasn't appeared in the majors since his 30-game stint for the 2003 Dodgers.

He hinted of retirement, but with a caveat.

"I think this might be it right here," said Henderson, who in the same breath mentioned the possibility of returning next year to the GBL as a player- coach or player-manager, which would quench two of his desires, staying active and working with younger players -- a redundancy if there ever was one.

Before a game Tuesday, Henderson gathered a few teammates for an on-field lesson in stealing bases. Quickly, the group grew in size. Other teammates joined the session, even pitchers, and players from the opposing team, the Chico Outlaws, walked by and listened in.

He's the all-time leading base stealer, so why not?

"I never heard some of those things he was saying, but obviously it works, " said Tony Garcia, the Surf Dawgs' shortstop, a 13th-round pick by the Cubs in 2001.

"He can still beat you in a race, so you better listen," added the first baseman, Eddie Montague, the son of a big-league umpire and grandson of the scout who signed Willie Mays.

Garcia and Montague both played at Pepperdine, teammates of Dan Haren and Noah Lowry, but haven't advanced beyond A-ball. This league keeps their dream alive to return to a farm team affiliated with a big-league organization.

Henderson, twice their elder, has a similar dream. More precisely, he imagines himself playing his final game in an A's uniform, this September when rosters expand. The most popular player in the 38-year history of the Oakland franchise, Henderson promised he'd retire if he got one more shot with his hometown team.

If Charlie Finley were the owner, it would be more of a possibility. In 1965, when the A's played in Kansas City, Finley signed Satchel Paige to play a September game. Paige was 59 by some reports, in his 60s by others. In any case, Paige blanked the Boston Red Sox over three innings and surrendered one hit, a double by Carl Yastrzemski.

Compared with Satchel, Rickey's a toddler.

"I could help a lot of teams. They could use my knowledge," Henderson said. "I've been trying to make it happen in Oakland, but they haven't wanted me. It would be great for the Bay Area, myself and them."

The A's were in contention the past few Septembers, so the crowds were usually decent, but that might change this year. If the A's are seeking ways to boost attendance, Henderson would volunteer his services.

Rickey Henderson Day? How about Rickey Henderson Month?

"I don't look at it for one day. I'm a player," he said. "I walk around Oakland and hear appreciation from people. It's not necessary to go out and have people appreciate me for one day. When they expand their roster, if they want me to come and do the things I know I can do, I'd be happy for it. But I don't put much faith in it happening because I think I could've helped them a long time ago. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, I'd understand."

For now, Henderson is satisfied playing ball in his cool Surf Dawg uniform -- powder blue and navy blue with a logo of a scruffy mutt carrying a bat in one hand and a surfboard in the other. Though his defense has slipped, he still can get on base, steal a base, smile for a 6-year-old photographer in the front row and attract the national media -- on Wednesday, the New Yorker and "Nightline" were in town for stories.

"He's amazing," said Surf Dawgs manager Terry Kennedy, who caught for the 1989 Giants, who were swept in the World Series by Henderson's A's. "The really hard part is to maintain your mental pitch for so long. How do you keep it up for 26 years? He broke in one year after I did. He's still playing, and I've been done for 14 years."

Henderson is eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2009, though any reappearance in the majors would restart the clock on the five-year waiting period.

What if he were summoned to a Cooperstown enshrinement on a day he was scheduled to play a game?

"I'd rather play the game," he said, laughing. "I'll send a substitute to the Hall of Fame."

Travelin' man

Rickey Henderson has played with nine different major league clubs, including four stints with the A's.